Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1892: Nothing but… Part-2

“You are a monster.”

He knew that voice.

It was not another person or No.27.

It was not some mysterious entity whispering into his mind.

It was him.

His own reflection.

The part of himself that remembered everything he had done.

He knew.

He knew the lives he had taken.

He knew the people who had suffered because of his choices.

He knew that he had stood there and watched the misery of others.

And most importantly…

He knew that he had done it.

He refused to point his finger toward someone else.

He would not blame fate.

He would not blame the world.

He would not blame the people who had pushed him toward the edge.

He did it.

Just as his mother had accepted her own sins, he had to accept his.

If his Mother could carry the blame for what his birth father had done to him, then why couldn’t he carry the weight of his own actions?

When she had told him that what happened was wrong, she had not tried to excuse herself.

She had pointed toward everything she believed she was responsible for and accepted it as her burden.

It had been painful.

It had destroyed parts of her.

Yet she accepted it anyway.

How could she do that?

Aether’s fingers tightened around the axe.

Once again, the world had shown him something he had been too blind to understand.

There were people who had endured suffering far beyond anything he could comprehend, yet they still carried their pain instead of abandoning themselves.

And he had done the opposite.

He had abandoned the part of himself he could not bear to face.

“Do you regret it?” the voice asked.

Aether stopped walking.

For the first time, he remained silent for several seconds.

Did he regret what he had done?

His eyes lowered.

No.

Regret meant rejecting the part of himself that had committed those acts.

No. 27.

But if he refused to regret them, then wasn’t he rejecting the part of himself that wanted to protect others?

No. 25.

Two opposing truths.

Two halves that demanded completely different answers.

A devil that hurts.

A saint that protects.

Life.

Death.

They were contradictions that were never meant to exist peacefully within the same person.

And yet both existed inside him.

Aether could not even answer the question he himself had asked.

His lips slowly parted.

“You were right, Clara…”

His voice was quiet enough that only he could hear it.

“It’s impossible to balance two things that were never meant to be balanced.”

His gaze slowly lifted toward the distant figure of Jonathan.

“Perhaps I wasn’t supposed to choose between them.”

THUNDER!!

Lightning erupted across the sky once more.

Aether’s body flickered violently.

His outline became unstable, shifting between black and white as though reality itself could no longer decide which version of him should remain.

The cracks within his Twin Domains spread farther.

Faster.

Deeper.

The white and black boundaries trembled violently as they began to collapse into one another.

And his Card…

His so-called Mutated Card, just like the domain, had a cracked surface and slipped into the broken border.

Like an endless valley with no bottom, falling deeper and deeper as everything around it continued to collapse.

Everything was falling.

And Grace could only watch.

For the first time, she couldn’t completely hide the worry in her eyes.

Another flash of lightning illuminated his face.

For a brief moment, his body became almost… transparent.

As though Aether himself was beginning to disappear.

THUNDER!!

Just then, a furious voice tore through the area.

“DIE, YOU MONSTER!!!”

SSRRCCHHHH!!

A car came violently rushing toward Aether.

There was barely enough time for anyone to react before the vehicle slammed directly into him. His body folded over the front bumper from the force of the impact, his feet leaving the ground as the car continued driving forward.

The tyres screamed against the ruined pavement as the driver refused to slow down, pushing Aether along with the vehicle until the car finally crashed into a large container filled with thick red paste used for bread jam.

THUCK!!

The weakened container buckled beneath the impact.

A deep crack spread across its side before the entire container ruptured, releasing a massive wave of thick red paste that poured across the ground.

The paste spread rapidly, swallowing the wrecked vehicle, the surrounding debris, and Aether beneath its heavy crimson surface.

The soldier immediately threw open the driver’s door and jumped out.

He did not even look back.

He simply ran.

Ssssllll!

The thick red paste continued flowing across the ground, covering everything in its path.

For several seconds, there was no sign of Aether.

“AETHER!!” Lily screamed, her voice breaking with panic.

“MY SON—!!” Lia shouted as she immediately prepared to fly toward him.

BOINK!

A wooden staff struck Lia directly on the head.

A tiny burst of sparkles appeared around her head before her eyes rolled backwards.

She collapsed instantly.

Grace stared down at the unconscious Lia for a moment.

Then she slowly turned toward the Prophetess.

“Was this all… your doing?”

The Prophetess remained composed as she lowered her head respectfully.

“Forgive me, Elder Sister. I am unable to answer your question.”

Grace stared at her for several seconds.

“…”

She did not show anger.

She did not even sigh.

Instead, she simply turned away.

The Prophetess meanwhile continued staring at the enormous pool of red paste where Aether had disappeared.

Something about the scene disturbed her.

Suddenly, Aevum’s voice echoed inside her mind.

‘Why aren’t you helping him? Isn’t that why you came here?’

The Prophetess’s fingers tightened around her staff.

‘Something is missing.’

‘What do you mean?’

Her eyes narrowed.

‘He was supposed to call his Spear and end all of this. That was what I saw.’

She paused.

‘But something changed.’

‘Changed?’

‘For some reason, I can no longer see his future.’

The Prophetess’s expression gradually became more serious.

Her eyes remained fixed upon the motionless pool of red paste.

Aevum remained silent for a moment before asking,

‘You mean…?’

The Prophetess slowly closed her eyes.

There was only one possibility that made sense.

No. 27.

No. 27 might be personally involved again.

Her grip around the staff tightened further.

If he came out, then everything she had worked for would fall apart and… only blood would be left here.

The thought sent an uncomfortable chill through her.

The soldiers slowly approached the pool.

Their weapons remained tightly gripped in their hands, but none of them dared to step directly into the thick red substance.

They waited.

Nothing moved.

No sound came from beneath the surface.

One soldier finally forced a laugh, trying to hide the uneasiness creeping into his voice.

“Even if he’s alive in there… there’s enough red chilli paste to burn him from the inside out.”

Another soldier glanced nervously at the pool.

“After what we just saw him do, you really think that’s enough?”

“Nothing survives that.”

He looked at the thick paste covering the ground.

“Even a few drops of this stuff can burn the inside of your mouth. Getting completely buried in it?”

He shuddered.

“That would be a nightmare.”

The soldiers exchanged uneasy looks.

They wanted to believe it.

They needed to believe it.

Crrrckkk!

A sudden metallic groan came from behind them.

Every soldier froze.

The wrecked car began to tremble.

Then, with a violent burst of force, the vehicle was suddenly thrown backward.

BOOOOM!!

The soldiers instinctively crouched as the car flew past them and slammed into the ground.

Metal screamed as the wreckage rolled across the unpaved road.

Thick red paste dripped from its shattered frame, falling in slow, heavy streams.

Drip…

Drip..

Drip.

The soldiers slowly turned around.

Their expressions changed.

Something stood within the enormous pool of red paste.

A human silhouette.

At first, it barely looked alive.

Then the figure slowly stepped forward.

His entire body was coated in the thick crimson substance.

“Aether…?”

Lily muttered through her tears. For several seconds, Aether simply stood there.

Silent.

Motionless.

His head remained slightly lowered.

The red paste covered his hair, face, clothes, and even his eyelashes.

His eyes were almost completely obscured.

Yet beneath that coating, his gaze remained fixed upon the soldiers.

Aether could feel every inch of his skin burning.

The chili paste seemed to cling to him, finding every exposed part of his body and turning the sensation into a relentless fire.

He did not even blink.

He simply stared.

Then Aether took a single step forward. His body suddenly went completely limp.

!~Ding~!

[Detecting Heavy Strain on Soul… Entering into Null Vessel State!]

Cluckkk~

His knees gave way.

Aether collapsed onto the ground.

The soldiers stared at him.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then one soldier suddenly burst into laughter.

“Haha… I knew that idea would work!”

Another soldier stared at Aether’s motionless body and laughed nervously.

“Damn, man… it must be burning like hell in there.”

A third soldier lowered his weapon and grinned.

“Haha! Get him. We need to present him and her to our boss.”

Their fear vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.

They believed they had won.

They believed the monster who had slaughtered their comrades was finally helpless.

One of the soldiers immediately grabbed Lily by the arm and began dragging her away.

“L-Let me go!” Lily struggled desperately, twisting her body and kicking at his legs.

“Stop moving!”

“L-Let me go!”

SLAP!

The soldier struck her across the cheek.

Her head snapped violently to the side.

“Stay quiet, bitch!”

The impact left a vivid red handprint across her cheek.

Lily slowly turned her face back.

Tears gathered in her eyes, trembling on the edge of falling.

Her cheek burned.

Her arm hurt from the soldier’s grip.

Yet despite the pain, her eyes instinctively moved toward Aether.

She stared at his motionless body.

“Aether…”

Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

The soldiers continued dragging her away.

And behind them, beneath the crimson coating, Aether’s body fluctuated violently.

Meanwhile, No. 25 clenched his fist as he watched Aether lying motionless on the ground.

“He needs help…” he said quietly.

His body began to shift as he prepared to possess Aether and take control of the situation.

But before he could move, No. 27 stopped him.

The same cold expression remained on No. 27’s face, but there was something almost amused hidden within his eyes.

“He does need our help… but now he already decided and accepted his path. I can feel it… He accepted me.”

He looked at his arms… he felt it… the connection had finally formed. A slow smirk appeared across his face.

“And this motherfucker really did it…”

His eyes widened with something dangerously close to excitement.

“Hahahaha! Fuck yes!”

No. 25 frowned deeply.

“What do you mean—”

His voice suddenly flattened.

He had seen it.

Not only him.

Grace and the Prophetess also looked upward at exactly the same moment.

Their expressions changed.

The settlement became utterly silent.

Even the soldiers who had been dragging Lily stopped moving.

Something had entered the atmosphere.

The sky was already covered in thick clouds, darkness swallowing the light above them, yet this was different.

Something far darker had appeared beyond the clouds.

A presence so enormous that the surrounding darkness seemed insignificant beside it.

Grace’s eyes widened, her wings flatted in fear.

“No…”

The Prophetess slowly raised her head, her fingers tightening around her staff.

“Eternal Prison…”

The words escaped her lips almost as a whisper as her body shuddered in utter fear.

Far above them, something emerged from the darkness.

At first, it appeared to be nothing more than a distant sphere.

Then its immense scale became visible.

A colossal sphere, nearly one hundred times larger than the Terra Empire itself, descended through the atmosphere.

Its surface was completely obscured by enormous silver chains.

Thousands upon thousands of them wrapped tightly around its circumference, crossing over one another in impossible patterns as though reality itself had been shackled around the object.

The chains did not merely surround it.

They restrained it.

Each individual chain was so enormous that, from the ground, it resembled a silver mountain suspended in the heavens.

The atmosphere distorted around the sphere.

Clouds were pushed away from its path as pressure spread across the sky, and the light surrounding it seemed to dim as though the very presence of Eternal Prison was consuming illumination.

Grace, whose true consciousness remained within Aether’s Twin Domain, was shocked even further when she saw…

The fractured boundaries between the white and black Domains suddenly trembled.

The cracks stopped spreading.

For one heartbeat, everything became completely still.

Then—

SSSSNNNNGGG~

The fallen Mutated Card emerged from within the valley, its fractured surface glowing violently as pulses of distorted light rippled across its surface.

But it was not glowing on its own.

Something else was awakening beneath it.

A gigantic, transparent hand suddenly erupted from deep within the valley.

Grace’s eyes widened in shock, ‘Third… Domain?’

The hand was completely transparent, yet it possessed a terrifying physical presence. Through its palm, the distorted landscape behind it remained visible, as though the hand itself had been carved from invisible glass.

As it slowly rose from the valley and emerged high above the surrounding landscape, the fallen Mutated Card hovered directly above its enormous palm, radiating a violent and unstable glow.

But it was not over.

Another enormous transparent hand suddenly emerged from deep within the valley.

Its massive fingers stretched upward and caught the edge of the White Ethereal Domain.

Before Grace could even comprehend what she was seeing, yet another gigantic transparent hand emerged from the valley.

It reached toward the Black Umbra Domain and seized its boundary.

For one brief moment, everything became unnaturally still.

Then…

CRRRRRRCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!

A deafening crack tore through the Twin Domain.

The entire space violently trembled.

The White Ethereal Domain shook beneath the pressure, while countless fractures spread across its radiant surface like cracks through frozen glass.

The Black Umbra Domain responded with an equally violent distortion, its darkness twisting into enormous waves that rippled outward.

Then the two colossal hands began pushing.

They forced the White Ethereal Domain and the Black Umbra Domain away from each other.

The domains resisted.

The White Ethereal Domain surged forward, its brilliant light intensifying as it fought against the invisible pressure.

The Black Umbra Domain answered with a violent eruption of darkness, refusing to yield even an inch.

But the hands continued pushing.

Further…

And further…

And further.

The distance between the two domains widened little by little, as though something outside their existence had decided that they were never meant to remain together.

Fragments of light and darkness broke away from their boundaries, floating through the space like shattered pieces of reality.

Fragments of light and darkness broke away from their boundaries, drifting through the space like shattered pieces of reality.

Aether’s real body fluctuated violently back and forth, his entire existence being erased and written again and again—

“!!!”

Aether’s eyes suddenly shot open.

The familiar ice blue of his irises was gone.

There was no colour.

No glow.

No reflection.

Nothing.

Nothing but…

Aether.